Jan Dismas Zelenka: Missa sanctissimae trinitatis

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In the Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis (and also in the other four late masses) Zelenka does not subordinate himself either to the requirements of court prestige or to the restrictions arising from the integration of the mass into the liturgy. The instrumental ensemble is – as in almost all Zelenka’s late works – reduced to chamber music dimensions with two violins and supporting oboes, viola and basso continuo. Solo obbligato instruments such as transverse flutes as well as a chalumeau supplement this ensemble. This instrument, which was occasionally used in the early 18th century, had a simple reed and cylindrical pipe and is considered a forerunner of the clarinet. In Zelenka’s late masses there is a complete absence of the typical brass instruments: not only is the blaring trumpet ensemble with kettle drums missing, but also the horns that were otherwise very popular in Dresden. The character of the music is restrained for long stretches, but at the same time the scale of conception of the mass cycle is extraordinary. Zelenka’s late masses belong to an exclusive species. In Zelenka’s masses we find again and again clear musical contrasts. But in hardly any other work are they so clearly expressed as in the "Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis". The intensity of Zelenka’s mass music - and particularly the music of the late masses from the "Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis" onwards – is clearly indicated. The music no longer functions as a pure mirror or as festive clothing for the given text of the mass, as can perhaps be said about the masses of Palestrina, but as the forceful expression of a dimension both human and humane. Zelenka’s music for the text of the mass seems to say as clearly as possible that it is not only a question of depiction, glorification or adoration of an "object", but also, and more importantly, of the salvation of the subjects. Zelenka’s mass music seems therefore to say: 'tua res agitur', 'it is a matter that concerns you’! Unlike the "Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis", the piece "Gaude, laetare" (ZWV 168), consisting of two tenor arias framed by a recitativo secco, actually was created for the Feast of the Holy Trinity. The handwritten score, the only source for the work, is dated 17th May 1731. Zelenka classifies a work such as "Gaude, laetare", which we would call a short sacred "cantata", under the title of "Mottetti" in his largely handwritten inventory of music. The arias "Gaude, laetare" and "Alleluja" show Zelenka’s increasingly "galant" style of composing in the years after 1730; the syncopated rhythms in the "Alleluia" stand out particularly. On the other hand, there is a clear sign of Zelenka’s previous preference for changing rhythms in the striking mixture of duplets and triplets in instruments and voice in the introductory aria. While the music of the "Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis" has a particularly serious nature on the whole, we hear in his Trinitatis motetto "Gaude, laetare" another side of Zelenka, cheerful and lighthearted, which, it must be admitted, is not typical of his work as a whole.